Yochanan ben Zakai (
Hebrew ????? ?? ????? c. 30 CE - 90
CE), also known as Johanan B. Zakkai was one of the
tannaim, an important
Jewish sage in the era of the
Second Temple, and a primary contributor to the core text of Judaism, the
Mishnah.
There is a small amount of information about his early life and family, but the Mishnah divides his life into three divisions of a symbolic 40 years each, portraying him as a merchant in the first third, as a student in the second third, and only teaching for the final third[1]. To the Mishnah he is an important link in the chain of religious teaching, passing on the wisdom of both Hillel and Shammai[2]; generally, though, he is considered to have been more in favour of Hillel's views than of Shammai's[3], and is said to have been Hillel's youngest pupil.
The Talmud reports that, in the mid first century, he was particularly active in opposing the Sadducee's interpretations of Jewish law[4][5], and produced counter-arguments to the Sadducees' objection to the Pharisees[6]. So dedicated was he to opposing the Sadducee view of Jewish law, that he prevented the Jewish high priest, who was a Sadducee, from following the Sadducee interpretation of the Red Heifer ritual[7]
His home, at this time, was in 'Arab, a location in the Galilee[8]. However, although living among them, he found the secular attitude of Galileans to be objectionable, allegedly exclaiming that they hated the torah and would therefore fall into the hands of robbers[9].
